


When In Doubt Wear Black and Accesorize

by Pixietails



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Gen, Raijin Days, a little blood, big brother izaya, description of ear piercing, nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 11:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9232517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixietails/pseuds/Pixietails
Summary: Piercing one's ears can't be that painful, can it?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsnotlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnotlove/gifts).



     The idea itself wasn’t terrible; it was safe enough, in theory--provided one knew what they were doing.  Unfortunately Izaya did not.  But as that was hardly any reason to just quit, he decided he might as well _try_ ; after all, he had looked up what information the internet had to offer. He had come to the conclusion that the _worst_ case scenario meant that he injured himself only a little bit, and seeing as how quickly he’d gotten used to Shinra’s so-called ‘doctor’s visits’, a little pain was easy enough for him to handle.

     Besides; how much could it really hurt to pierce his ears?

     He’d cut himself more times than he could count, injured himself learning how to run from that single-celled _monster_ , and had more than his fair share of childhood scrapes and bruises.  Pain wasn’t something that particularly bothered him, and so he didn’t really see how poking a needle through his ear would really be that bad.

     There was, however, still a problem: his sisters.

     If they knew what he was up to, they wouldn’t be able to leave him alone.  They would distract and irritate him, and wind up pouting because he wouldn’t pierce _their_ ears.  There would undoubtedly be a tempter tantrum (or two), and in the end Mairu would end up bleeding and crying because she had tried to emulate her big brother, while Kururi quietly tried to soothe her.  All in all, a headache to be avoided.

     When he finally decided he wanted to go through with it, he made sure to get everything he needed before heading home.  Mairu and Kururi would likely give up waiting outside of their elementary school if enough time passed.  It wasn’t that far from their house, so even a couple of six-year-olds would be all right walking on their own: they were used to it by now, and _hardly_ ever complained.  So rather than go straight home, Izaya went instead to an annoyingly trendy store he often passed to buy what he would need.

     Several of the main displays catered to young women, with card after card of cutesy, inexpensive plastic earrings paired with matching necklaces or bracelets.  Even the plainest ones were too cheap, and Izaya doubted that anything but pure metals would heal properly.  If he ended up with an infection it was going to be humiliating to go to Shinra; a brush with death was fine for him to patch up.  A botched ear piercing?  No way.

     He continued to look around, browsing over the more traditionally masculine side of the store before settling his sights on a counter of stainless steel unisex jewelry.  It was cheaper than silver, and probably much safer.  But as he looked over the different pieces, he felt a sort of unease.  Why hadn’t he decided what _kind_ to get before all of this?

     There was a surprising amount of different styles, each varying in size from small to clunky.  Posts with small stones set into them sparkled under the lights, and Izaya made sure to move away from those in favor of the plainer ones.  Small hoops came in both thin and wide variety, and while one set seemed as though they would work, Izaya didn’t want to take the risk of wearing anything that could theoretically get caught on something.  Besides, even the littlest ones felt a little flashy, and he wasn’t trying to get himself noticed for being bold enough to pierce his ears.

     After nearly ten minutes of trying to decide, Izaya settled on a small pair of flat, round studs.  While they would be noticeable, they wouldn’t stand out, and he figured he could be happy with that.  Besides, they were _nice_ ; if he didn’t know any better he would have said they were real silver.  For a pair of starter earrings, they were perfect.

     As the sun was already beginning to set, Izaya felt as though he needed to get home. While fairly capable, Mairu and Kururi needed _some_ kind of supervision.  They would eventually get hungry, which would constitute a trip into the kitchen without their big brother.  And then, in their attempt to feed themselves, they would make a mess.

     It was somewhat comforting to walk through the front door and find the pair absorbed in some colorful kid’s show rather than engaged in something potentially disastrous, but the moment they realized Izaya was home they abandoned the TV without so much as a backward glance.  Mairu was the one who reached him first, and with all the strength she could muster she kicked Izaya in the shin--an action that looked far more impressive than it felt.

     “You left us all alone, Iza-nii!  Where were you?!”

     “Lost.  (We thought you got lost.)”

     “Or that you maybe died!”

     “Worried.  (Mairu was worried about you.)”

     “No!  Kuru-nee was the one who was worried!”

     “Wrong. (That’s not true.)”

     “All right, that’s enough out of you both.  I simply had something to take care of after school.  Is that okay with you two?  You got home all right, didn’t you?”

     The question seemed to come as something of a surprise, given the confused look on the girls’ identical faces.  For a long moment they just stared at him, each one watching for signs that their brother had been replaced by someone decent.  All at once they seemed to snap out of their trance and quickly huddled together so that they could urgently whisper in each others’ ears.  After about thirty seconds they parted, looking rather pleased with themselves.

     “We’ve decided to forgive you, Iza-nii,” Mairu stated cheerfully.  “But don’t let it happen again!”

     Izaya let out a sigh of false relief and pressed one hand to his chest.  “Well isn’t that lucky?  I’ll even make it up to you since I’m feeling generous.  Go back to your show and I’ll make something nice for dinner.  Of course, if I do that then you’ll have to clean up once I’m done.  I’m not in _that_ much of a giving mood.”

     The twins watched him suspiciously for a few seconds before ultimately deciding he was not actually planning to poison them.  Satisfied, they left him alone to go back to the TV, Mairu chatting to her sister excitedly throughout nearly the entire program.  While they were busy, Izaya went to the sideboard near the kitchen where he kept a small sewing kit and took out the thickest needle he had.  It was just a little too big for most of his projects (which largely consisted of little socks and matching shirts with mysterious holes), but it looked as though it would finally get some use.  All he had to do was make sure it was sterile.

     Once dinner was out of the way, and his needle sterilized, Izaya left his sisters to clean up the mess while he retreated into the bathroom.  He wasn’t entirely sure what exactly he would need, but he also wasn’t stupid enough not to take precautions.  Everything would need to be clean, and he was going to have to try and numb his ears.  Ice would have to do.

     But it wasn’t until he had carefully drawn on a small dot on each earlobe that he actually paused to look at _himself_ rather than what he was doing.  Curiously enough his reflection was a little pale; did he always look like that?  Was the bathroom light just washing him out, or was he not feeling well?  Surely he wasn’t _afraid_.  So then what was the problem?

     A little pain was nothing, self-inflicted or otherwise, and to prove it to himself he pinched his left ear hard.  Small relief coursed through him; he had barely even _felt_ it!  Of course it wasn’t anything _sharp_ , and there wasn’t actually any cartilage to push through, so he didn’t really see how it could be anything _too_ terrible.  But just to make sure, he tried it again, this time letting his thumbnail dig into the soft skin.

    This time the pain made his suck in a small breath.  Frowning at his reflection, he reasoned that it was only because he hadn’t been expecting it, not that it had actually hurt all that much.  And any pinch was going to hurt if you added _fingernails_ into the equation!  Besides, a needle was quick and clean, and definitely couldn’t hurt that much more.  The test had been just a preview; a preparation.  

     He’d be fine.

     A full minute passed before Izaya steeled himself for the task.  His eyes narrowed in determination, and he flexed his fingers several times as though he could chase away their ridiculous shaking.  There was absolutely nothing to be nervous about, and once he was focused he would be able to relax; it was really all in his head.  He quickly used alcohol to disinfect the needle first (despite having already let it sit in boiling water), and then followed up with the earrings, just to be safe.  After taking so many precautions he definitely couldn’t have any problems.

     _So do it.  Stop acting so childish._

What was he waiting for?  One quick push of the needle in each ear and that was it.  Perfect.  Easy, even!  Once it was all over he only had to clean up a little blood and put the earrings in--and leave them.  Ten minutes, tops.

     Leaning in, Izaya stared carefully at the ink mark on one ear, then turned his head to check the other.  From what he could see they were both even--but of course he already knew that.  He had taken far too long making sure they were the same to have screwed up.  He was only stalling.

     First he picked up one of the melting ice cubes and held it to one ear.  A minute passed, and he did the same for the other, knowing he would need to be quick if he wanted to do them both at once.  Although he knew he could have just numbed one, pierced it, and then done the same thing for the second ear, it seemed to make more sense to do it his way.  Once his skin felt numb, he took the needle in his left (definitely steady) hand, and pressed the tip to one of the little black dots.  He stared at it with intense focus, tongue poking out the side of his mouth as though somehow magically aiding his thought process.

     _Deep breath.  One...two…_

On _three_ he pushed it through as quickly as possible, and despite the preparation the pain was more than he had been anticipating.  Not unbearable, but sharp enough to draw a fairly audible curse.  Blood dripped onto the white sink counter as the needle came back out, but there wasn’t time to stop and clean it up.  He would take care of that once the second one was finished.

     “ _Shit_.”  And that was only step _one_.

     He took another deep breath to steady his hands, and went for the second ear: as tempting as it was to rush and get it over with, he knew better.  The needle had to go straight through and it had to match the ink mark--he couldn’t risk screwing everything up just because he was getting stupidly _bothered_ by one little piercing.  It hadn’t even been that bad!  Why was he acting like such a child?

     _One...two_ …

     “Iza-nii?  Are you in there?  We can hear you!”

     “Rude. (You said a bad word!)”

     Just how loud had he been?  If he had yelled he would have known it; the curse had _clearly_ been under his breath.  There was no way Mairu and Kururi could have heard him.  And why _did_ they know such a word anyway?  Weren’t they too young to actually know what it meant?  They were getting older, and frustratingly more clever; they must have picked it up from him somewhere along the line.  But he was really going to have to watch what he said around them.

     Maybe.

     “I’m fine,” he called.  “Go away you two.”

     “What are you doing?  You’re being weird!  Come out!”

     “Out. (Come out!)”

     The last word had come out in chilling stereo, and Izaya couldn’t help but laugh at himself in the mirror.  Twins were such a bizarre phenomenon, and every day he noticed some little thing about them that made him wonder if they actually _weren’t_ the same person.  Despite their attempt to split their personality, it didn’t make either one unique.  But he couldn’t deal with them now; he was almost done.

     A tiny fist slammed against the door, and Izaya half wondered if Mairu was knocking or attempting to break in.  Either way, he chose to ignore his younger sister’s persistence and looked back to his unpierced ear.  The numbness was starting to wear off, leaving the skin feeling strangely warm. It might hurt a little more, but at least this time he was prepared.

     Certain that the needle was straight, Izaya bit his lip and pierced through the lobe.  For some reason it actually hurt _less_ , and all at once he felt like he could finally settle down.  Miraculously he had gotten through the ordeal and hadn’t even passed out.  He _was_ somewhat pale, and his hands _did_ tremble ever so slightly, but he was going to count it as a clean victory.

     The worst of it was over.

     Or so he thought.

     Getting the earrings in had proven to be more of a hassle than expected, and since the holes were _just_ slightly smaller than the posts, he had to push them through.  The second earring left him feeling oddly lightheaded, and it took him several moments of leaning against the sink to recover.  But soon enough the dark spots in front of his eyes vanished, and once he could stand comfortably on his own again he felt a warm, content feeling spread through his body.

     He had done it.  He had successfully pierced his ears.

     The clean up was as easy as he had expected, although it hurt to touch his ears.  He would have to sleep solely on his back for a few nights to make sure he was comfortable, but it was a small sacrifice.  Piercing his ears might have been a silly impulse, and he might end up resenting the decision when he was older, but ultimately he didn’t care.  For now he liked the earrings, and if he ever decided he didn’t want them, he could just take them out.  No problems.

     Since the twins would likely notice the earrings right away, Izaya brushed his hair over his ears as best he could.  In a few days he would explain to them that he had gotten his ears pierced, and when they were old enough they could make their own decision to get theirs done.  For the time being he would have to keep them in the dark and distract them.

     That would be easy enough.

     He opened the door to the bathroom in time to catch one of Mairu’s small, angry fists.  Kururi had not joined in the grand door assault, but Izaya took her by the hand as well, dragging both girls back into the kitchen which, amazingly, was actually fairly clean.  The stove had been left as it was, and the sink had water splashed around it, but the girls had put everything they could reach away.  All in all a fairly impressive job.

     “I’m surprised you didn’t catch the kitchen on fire.  You didn’t even cut off a finger or anything.  That’s suspicious.”

     “We’re not _allowed_ to use the stove or sharp knives, Iza-nii!  Remember?”

     “Forgot. (Maybe he already forgot.)”

     “Of course I didn’t forget.  But you _did_ do a fairly decent job, so how about this: if you two can shut up for ten minutes I’ll let you have dessert.”

     “!”

     “!”

     “Ready?  Now be quiet!”

**Author's Note:**

> Liz this is all your fault


End file.
